


this bridge was built over kerosene

by c0mbeferre



Series: we will return, our flame will burn again [2]
Category: Cow Chop, The Creatures (Youtube RPF)
Genre: Drug Use, M/M, Mutual Pining, aleks pines so hard, basically the plot of the museum of witchcraft quest while i get used to writing in this universe, because it's fallout, if you squint its mutual, the fallout au no one asked for, the rest of cow chop are mentioned, warning there are dismembered bodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-06 11:36:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11599839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c0mbeferre/pseuds/c0mbeferre
Summary: They picked up the rumour in Diamond City.





	1. i just can't bring myself to speak

**Author's Note:**

> hit me up on tumblr @ michael-jaundice my cow chop sideblog and talk about cow chop au's with me

“That’s fucking gross, dude,” Aleks commented mildly, his deadpan tone not matching his words. He nudged the dismembered arm with the edge of his boot as he kept watch while James kneeled on his haunches next to a Gunner’s torso, ten feet away and rummaging through the blood soaked pockets.

James merely snorted and continued his search, pocketing the bottlecaps he found. Although a grisly sight, the two were desensitised to seeing corpses after living in the Wasteland as long as they had.

Various body parts were strewn across the grass by the side of the Museum of Witchcraft - a gruesome sight but not an uncommon one - and Aleks took the sunglasses that lay a few feet from the decapitated head of the Gunner that he had been side eyeing for the past couple of minutes.

“I got you a present,” he said, offering the sunglasses to James in an outstretched hand. He had noticed the other man squinting against the afternoon sun on their journey from Diamond City. He was simply being a good friend, that’s all. If the sight of James with his hair tied back and loose grin and the stupid sunglasses made his heart race a little faster, Aleks wasn’t going to mention it. Plus, they were splattered with blood and he was curious to see if James would notice and clean them or if he would wear them regardless.

“You always give the shittiest gifts, Aleksandr,” James replied, as if they had had this conversation a hundred times, picking up a holotape from one of the pockets before turning to face him.

He had dirt smeared on his nose from the day of travelling, and it was endearing enough that Aleks didn't point it out to him. Looking at him, he wanted to reach out and take James’ hand for the sole purpose of just holding it, but that wasn't the kind of relationship they had - if it could even be called a relationship.

Happiness in the Commonwealth didn’t occur often or last long, so Aleks took what happiness he could get from the stolen moments with James; kisses that are more teeth than tongue after a close call, the two of them dirty and sweating and sore. The quiet moments that are never discussed afterwards, when Aleks leaves before James wakes up.

They had picked the rumour up in Diamond City, where the two had been running errands for the settlement their small group had taken over, and overheard the guards discussing the disappearances around the Museum of Witchcraft. The intrigue was enough to peak their interest when they were stuck doing a pick up job that hardly required the two of them. Without Brett to keep them in line, the two were easily lured in by the mystery of the disappearances around the Museum of Witchcraft, promising that they would leave and return with the rest of their crew if it was more than the two of them could handle.

“Oh hey, thanks man,” James said, sounding genuinely touched by the gesture as he caught sight of the gift. He reached out for the sunglasses, his hands coated in the not-quite-dried blood from the corpse, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Don’t-” Aleks cut himself off when James lunged forward, smearing his hands down Aleks’ cheeks, causing Aleks to forcefully shove him away. James went easily, laughing hysterically.

“Fuck! You know I don’t like shit on my face, dude,” Aleks snapped as he stumbled backwards, rubbing furiously at his face and gagging. This only made James laugh harder, bending over and resting his now-less-bloody hands on his knees as support.

“You’re such a fucking dick, holy fuck,” Aleks spat over the sound of James’ laughter. Aleks threw the sunglasses in James’ general direction, perhaps a little harder than necessary - they bounced harmlessly off of his leg and onto the grass. After finally calming down, James wiped the tears from his eyes and picked up the sunglasses, putting them in his backpack for later use.

He approached Aleks, who glared at him venomously but didn’t backtrack any further. The gentle mirth still shone in his eyes and for a heartbeat Aleks couldn’t blame him for making jokes in their shitty situation, until he remembered the blood caked on his cheeks and he continued his half hearted glaring.

As James got closer, Aleks’ breath caught in his throat and he didn’t dare to move as James placed a hand on the side of his neck to hold him steady and started wiping the blood away with his sleeve. The fabric scratched against his skin and James was so close, focused on cleaning Aleks’ face, that Aleks almost leaned forward to close the distance between them. Instead, he kept his gaze on the smudge of dirt on James’ nose and tried not to think about his eyes or his hair or his mouth and failing miserably.

James must have noticed his expression, because when they finally made eye contact he left out a soft laugh, his pupils dilated. And god, with the light shining on him just so, illuminating the sharp cut of his cheekbones and casting shadows of his eyelashes, Aleks found it hard to stay rooted to the spot. Instead, he tried to convey his thoughts through his eyes because this thing between them was so fragile, speaking would ruin the moment. How easy it would be to remind James that they were standing in a radioactive wasteland next to a derelict museum and a dismembered corpse, which would take all of the romance out of the moment.

The thought made Aleks give a small, grim smile that just barely reached his eyes. No matter how good James looked in scavenged and faded army fatigues, this wasn’t somewhere they could safely sneak away and pass the time with each other, as much as Aleks wanted to. Instead he stood there, letting James wipe at his face with one shirt sleeve, acutely aware of the heat from James’ other hand resting on the side of his neck as it kept him in place.

He had obviously deemed Aleks’ face clean enough because he had stopped wiping at the skin, instead dusting his fingers from the corner of Aleks’ eye to his cheekbone and back again. The featherlight touches made Aleks _ache_ because it was almost too much, too domestic and too close to a confession. Softer, gentler, and so unlike their other brief encounters, which were all about getting release and letting off steam.

It felt like James had changed their game in just a few seconds and Aleks didn’t know the rules anymore so he did the only thing he knew; he disengaged, pulling back from the touch.

When James finally dropped his arms, Aleks pretended not to notice the quick flash of thinly veiled hurt and regret in his eyes, and hated himself for being the first to break the moment. He wondered how long James would have stood there for. Within second, they were back to normal, the tension cut by James’ words.

“You actually look pretty good all bloodied up,” he joked, an easy grin back on his face.

Aleks punched him halfheartedly in the arm. “Shut up, dude, don’t make it weird.” As if they weren’t moments away from a romcom-esque embrace only moments before. “Do you wanna search this creepy ass house or not?”

“Course,” James hummed, taking out the holotape he’d found on the Gunner’s corpse. “Do me a favour first and play this? Might give us an idea of what’s in the house. What if it’s a serial killer and this is his weird murder house?”

Aleks scoffed, looking at James incredulously. “Shut the fuck up, you dick, it’s probably just some feral ghouls or synths.”

“Well. Maybe you’re a synth,” he joked. “I bet you it’s a creep who gets off on murder. Okay, listen, if I’m right then you have to bleach your hair.”

“Where would we even get bleach? Also - why?”

“I’ll figure it out. Besides, we can rope Trevor into it, too,” James tapped the side of his nose and winked. “Live a little, Aleks. It’s just a bet between two buddies.”

“That’s such a stupid bet. What do I get if I win?” James didn't reply, just gave him a heated glance that shook Aleks to the core and well, okay, maybe this bet wasn't so stupid after all. James motioned for Aleks to take the holotape. He chose to ignore James’ look and continued, “Shave your goatee off. If I’m going to look stupid, then you are too.”

Aleks relieved him of the holotape, the PipBoy on his left arm suddenly feeling heavier. It was hard to forget the main reason he wasn’t killed on sight all those months ago when the two had first met, but Aleks had long stopped seeing himself as a vault dweller. It didn’t stop him from staying up at night, wondering why James had taken him under his wing rather than killing him for his PipBoy the first time they had met, when Aleks had accidentally stumbled upon him, still wearing his tattered vault suit.

The holotape whirred inside the PipBoy and white noise played for a couple of seconds before a conversation between two Gunners started to play:

_Private Hart: Jefferies! Lee got the recorder working.So, this the sorta detail ya had in mind when you signed up for the Gunners? Hauling luggage from Lynn Woods for some robot butler? What was his name? Welliton? Wellingham?_

_Major Jefferies: Not now, Private. Where's Connors? He's not as his post._

_Private Hart: Oh, uh, sorry sir. The lieutenant said he'd found some tracks, wanted to check them out. Private Martin--_

_Major Jefferies: Tracks? What track... what the hell is that?_

_Private Hart: Oh my... C-Conners? Where, where's the rest of him?_

_Major Jefferies: Jesus. It found us. Sergeant Lee, grab the case! Do not let that thing out of your sight! Everyone inside the museum! Now!_

_Private Hart: Major. Major! What found us!_

The recording cut off sharply, replaced again by the white noise.

“Well, shit,” James deadpanned, letting out a short and awkward laugh as he tried to diffuse the tense atmosphere that had built as they listened to the tape, but his voice was a far shakier than it had been moments before.

Wordlessly, Aleks removed the tape from his PipBoy and handed it back to James, who sighed, running a hand through his tied back hair, pulling some of the strands out of place. Aleks resisted the urge to reach out and flatten them himself.

“Look, we can’t just ignore this. I know we’re not local, but if whatever is in there decides to move on, we’re still too close for me to be comfortable not knowing,” James continued, looking down at the corpse and no doubt imagining the destruction something like that could bring to their settlement.

“Yeah, okay. I still don’t feel good about this though,” Aleks rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his weight to the other foot.

“Don’t worry, Vault Boy, I’ll protect you!”

“Please stop calling me that,” Aleks complained monotonously. “I’m not even blonde.”

“Yet!” James said, pointing at him with a grin as he walked backwards. “Let’s have a look around and find a way inside.”

  
***

  
“Over here!” James called, his voice echoing.

Aleks followed the sound of his voice from his spot by the front door, which appeared to be chained from the inside, to the back of the house, muttering under his breath about James’ _“loud_ _fuckin’ voice_ ” and how he _“probably alerted every feral fuckin’ ghoul within a mile”._

He found James standing next to a cellar door, Old Faithful, the gun he had newly purchased from Diamond City held loosely in his hand. Slung on his back by a harness was a heavily modified hunting rifle and next to the empty holster for his new gun were four frag grenades. A combat knife was strapped to his leg - Aleks had an identical one strapped to his, but if they ever had to use them they were probably goners anyway.

James gestured for Aleks to unholster his weapon and ready up - which he did, but only after mockingly shooting James a couple of finger guns, to which James rolled his eyes good-naturedly.  Aleks pulled out his 10mm pistol which James had helpfully modified to add a silencer. If all goes to plan, he shouldn’t even need to use it.

“Maybe it’s not a great idea to do this with just the two of us,” Aleks said, even as he used his free hand to pull open the cellar door.

James brushed him gently to the side stepping down into the basement first. “We’re not going to do anything, just see what it is. Considering the state of that Gunner outside, it’s too dangerous to have this close to home. We go in, assess the danger and then get the hell out of dodge. We need to give the others more information than just,” he put on a low, almost bored drawl, supposedly mimicking Aleks, _“‘Oh, we found a body outside the Museum of Witchcraft. It’s not like there’s dead bodies literally all over the Commonwealth.’”_

Not gently, Aleks pushed him down the rest of the stairs, closing the cellar door behind them and plunging them into darkness. After a couple of seconds of fiddling with his PipBoy, Aleks turned the torch within the device to its lowest setting in order to give them some vision but not enough to give away their position.

When he looked up, James was standing deathly still, his pointer finger pressed against his lips, gesturing for Aleks to come to him. The humour had completely left the situation as Aleks made his way to stand next to James, the wood above their head creaking with heavy footsteps, dirt occasionally raining between the planks of wood. One thing was obvious:

Whatever murdered the Gunner outside was definitely still in the building with them.


	2. we can slow down cause tomorrow is a mile away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James and Aleks explore the Museum of Witchcraft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is unbeta'd i'm so sorry

The silence that fell over the two was palpable as they stood in the dim light, dirt occasionally falling through the cracks in the wood, loud growling emanating from above them. No words were spoken, but Aleks could see James’ chest rise and fall with each deep breath he took, his knuckles nearly white around Old Faithful.

James started walking through the basement with slow, steady movements, Aleks only half a pace behind him, his heart in his throat. The two of them had been in more than their fair share of fights together and worked well as a team, but this wasn’t a group of raiders and there was none of the obvious signs of this being super mutants. This narrowed down what was left, causing a cold shiver to run down Aleks’ spine.

He had the ingredients for a molotov in his bag, along with some Psycho that James didn’t know about because Aleks couldn’t bear with the disappointed looks and sighs. He’d rather get a lecture about the drug like he’d heard James give Trevor time after time, but knew that this would cause James to give him the cold shoulder and if James ever looked at him with the same amount of distrust as last time then Aleks might actually break. He’d only use it if it was completely necessary which, if they were quiet enough, it shouldn’t be.

Suddenly, the growling and heavy footsteps stopped and before either of them could question it, a dark shape was tossed through a larger hole in the ceiling, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Immediately, James had Old Faithful pointed at it and Aleks really hoped it wasn’t a feral ghoul because they were noisy and the last thing they wanted was to alert whatever was above them to their presence.

Aleks pushed James’ arm down gently because the figure on the ground wasn’t moving and even if it did, Old Faithful was a laser pistol - at least Aleks’ simpler pistol had a silencer on it. It took a couple of seconds for their eyes to adjust to the body in the dim light and once they did - well, the most apt description Aleks could come up with for the corpse was _used_.

It was mauled beyond recognition - the skull had been caved in, the facial features completely distorted by large claw marks and puncture wounds. A large chunk has been torn from the side of the torso, exposing snapped ribs and some vertebrae along with what internal organs were left. What clothes it had been wearing were shredded and soaked with blood.

A year ago, Aleks would have emptied his stomach at the sight and smell and even now he was shocked motionless, his grip on James’ arm probably tight enough to leave bruises in the shape of his fingertips. He could hear James swallowing audibly and chanced a look at him. He could barely make out his profile in the dim light, the sharp curves of his nose and the way he seemed unable to tear his gaze from the body in front of them.

Whatever could do _that_ to a human wasn’t something that he ever wanted to meet, and yet James was finally shaking off Alek’s iron grip, his hand hovering just for a second to loop their index fingers together and squeeze, tightly, before letting go and moving around the corpse with practised light feet.

This was exactly the kind of times Aleks wished he had brought his sniper rifle and had an excuse to stay outside. And then, internally, he scoffed; who was he kidding? He’d never let James go through something like this alone; he’d look at a million corpses, go through a million murder houses, take a million bullets if it meant James didn’t have to. He wasn’t sure if that feeling went both ways.

And that was a scary thought he really didn’t have the capacity for at the moment, so he sidestepped away from those feelings the same way he sidestepped around the mauled corpse at his feet, trying not to dirty his shoes in the blood.

James was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs that lead up to the ground floor, and Aleks moved towards him automatically like he always did, a moth to a too bright flame. If James was the sun, then Aleks was Icarus, irrevocably drawn to him, destined to get burned when he got too close.

Upstairs, the floorboards creaked and another loud snarl echoed down to the basement.

 _“God, this was such a bad idea,”_ Aleks thought to himself, moving his pistol to his non-dominant hand in order to wipe his sweaty palm on his thigh. _“This is so fucking stupid.”_

“This is so fucking stupid,” Aleks stage whispered when he finally reached James.

To his credit, James had to decently to pull an expression that said _yeah, this is maybe the stupidest thing we’ve done yet_ but then ruined it by shrugging, what fear had been in his eyes replaced by adrenaline and - there was the shit eating grin that came onto his face whenever there was adventure. Aleks frowned, a crease forming between his brows.

“You coming or not?” James asked, though his voice was barely a whisper so he had moved closer in order for his voice to carry and Aleks could feel his breath against his neck and ear and he sighed because they both knew Aleks would follow James to the end of the earth.

“Can’t we just burn the place to the ground and roll out? It would be fitting, this is Salem after all,” he whispered as a reply, mostly because he just really wanted to commit mindless arson, but when he saw James’ shoulders drop ever so slightly he backpedaled, pressing two fingers to Jame’s pulse point (his mind drifted to leaving a mark there, weeks ago, and if he looked close enough the faded bruise was still there) to draw his gaze.

Wordlessly he nodded, agreeing to go up the stairs because he was an idiot who thought with his dick. His stomach sank slightly, though, when James shot him a brilliant grin because part of him felt like James knew how Aleks reacted to him and used it to his advantage. Instead of saying this, he motioned for James to ascend the rickety stairs first.

He moved up them, silently - of _course_ he was silent and Aleks had to look for the rotted parts of the stairs and pray that they didn’t break or creak under his weight. When Aleks reached the landing, James had already moved into one of the rooms, his back turned to Aleks as he surveyed the scene.

It had obviously been a museum at one point, as the name suggested, various mannequins positioned around the room, most upturned or broken. A layer of dust and filth coated everything in the room, as it did with everything in the Commonwealth. His gaze was drawn to the scene positioned on a stage-like area to the side of the room that James was investigating. A group of mannequins were arranged in a semi circle around another mannequin tied to a stake, their faces blank and expressionless.

It wasn’t creepy, per se, more unnerving. The mannequins themselves were bad enough but the fact that this scene was untouched when the rest of the mannequins in the room had been overturned raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Moving up to the stage, he inspected the closest mannequin. It was still clothed and the outfit was nice enough that Aleks was considered taking it apart and just taking the clothes for himself.

Behind him, the floorboards creaked, louder now, and the sound of a deep, feral and guttural snarl filled the room. Aleks’ head whipped up, meeting James’ wide eyed gaze. He watched as James looked to the left of him and Aleks held his breath. He started to turn, slowly, hoping he was having a fever dream and there wasn’t what he feared was behind him.

Blocking the entrance to the basement was a towering bipedal creature with dark scales covering its body, with a sturdy tail that could easily knock a human not only off their feet, but knock them backwards a good few feet. Huge horns the size of Aleks forearm - no, _larger_ \- curved down and outwards from its head. Most dangerously, the creature’s namesake; huge, impossibly sharp claws that could kill in one swipe.

In front of them stood a larger than average deathclaw - not that Aleks had much knowledge of deathclaws to compare against apart from _run_. The creature let out a furious roar, looking between James and Aleks.

Aleks really wished they had taken Brett’s Power Armour for a joyride.

“Run!” James yelled, his voice breaking after the short period of speaking in whispers. Aleks didn’t have to be told twice, bolting immediately to one of the broken doorways at the other side of the room.

At their sudden movements, the deathclaw sprang into action with a bone shattering roar. It moved quickly in huge strides on all fours and Aleks skidded around a corner. James had been taking pot shots at the beast as he ran, but the lasers did little to no damage to it, merely drawing its attention to the longer haired man and away from Aleks.

Fuck this shit, Aleks was _definitely_ burning this place to the ground with this fucking deathclaw inside of it.

He dropped to his knees, rummaging through his rucksack with shaking hands. While pulling out the components for the molotov, his hand brushes against the Psycho he had secretly bought in Diamond City. Before he could fully think it through, he had already rolled up his sleeve, desperately tapping at the vein in the crook of his elbow. If James saw him doing this, he might as well just throw himself at the deathclaw because the result would be the same. Maybe worse.

As he inserted the needle he took deep breaths, hissing through his teeth with a wince. Almost immediately he could feel the drug coursing through his veins, a pleasant burning that suddenly felt all encompassing and Aleks had to hold back an aggressive yell. Advertised as offering a higher resistance to damage as well as a boost to all damage done, Aleks could very easily see how people got addicted to this. He felt kind of invincible.

Over the haze of the drug, he could hear James shouting his name along with the distinct noise of shots from Old Faithful, followed by a muted _bang_ which shook the foundations of the rickety museum.

James’ use of a grenade shocked Aleks into moving again as he prepared the molotov as quickly as possible, his hands shaking worse than before with a mixture of Psycho and adrenaline coursing through him.

“Aleks!” he heard James call again, desperately, from another room, his voice an octave higher than usual.

Aleks followed the sound of his voice, crashing headfirst into James as he rounded a corner. James pushed him harshly to run in the direction Aleks had just came from and he obliged, running with his pistol in one hand and a molotov in the other.

James pushed him out into the hall, speaking quick, his voice low and ravelly.

“Where the fuck were you?” he snapped, and Aleks motioned with the molotov to answer his question and went to light it, but James clamped his hand down on Aleks’ wrist to stop him. “No, dude, not yet. I saw a fuckin’, uh-” he rambled, stumbling over his own words as he tried to speak quickly before the deathclaw found them. “In the bathroom, I found this holotape, but there's like a fuckin’ _nest_ or some shit, all the eggs were all crushed but there was one whole one left. They’re worth a fortune, I can grab it, we have time.”

Aleks didn't agree with that at _all_ , they really just needed to burn this place to the ground with all the baby deathclaws in it, but his eyes were glazed and diluted already and if he spoke he knew James would realise what he had done.

Before he could say anything, the deathclaw burst through the wooden wall behind James, it's roar defending, sending wood splinters over the two of them. Time seemed to slow and Aleks watched as the deathclaw raised the huge claws it was known for, prepared to swipe at James’ back and head.

James has been struck by the flying wooden debris, shouting a loud _FUCK_ , too distracted by the pain of the impact to be as dexterous as he normally would be. It was like Aleks had a glimpse into the future and all he could see was the deathclaw slicing through James’ back, impaling him on those deadly horns.

And that was all it took for Aleks to shove James roughly out of the way, only having seconds to cover his face with his forearms until all he felt was burning white pain as the claws raked across his arm and catching on his ribs and stomach. From the weight of the attack, Aleks was pushed backwards, the impact with the wall behind him completely winding him. The gashes immediately started to bleed and Aleks felt light headed, his vision white around the edges. The cuts on his stomach hadn't been enough to gut him - his forearms had taken the brunt of the damage and fuck, he did _not_ want to look because the cut probably went to the bone - but his stomach was still bleeding too much, the cuts too deep and the only reason he was still conscious was the Psycho that was already starting to wear off.

The deathclaw was nearing him again and Aleks glanced around. Where the fuck was James? He tried to push himself into a sitting position but he simply didn't have the strength in his arms and he almost gave up right there because _James had left him_ and he couldn't move, could only yelp in pain as the deathclaw’s sturdy, scaled tail impacted with his back, sending Aleks’ rolling across the filthy floor and leaving a swear of blood behind him. Too much blood.

He wished he hadn’t taken the Psycho, because at least then he could die when he was unconscious, didn't have to watch as the deathclaw stalked towards him, didn't have to think about how James had abandoned him to die. He tried to drag himself away, towards the molotov he had dropped but he wasn't moving fast enough, each breath a struggle with his aching ribs and the deathclaw outpacing him.

His fingertips were inches away from the molotov when a loud bang came from another room in the building, immediately drawing the deathclaw’s attention away from Aleks. With a loud snarl that Aleks never wanted to hear again, it bounded towards the noise on all fours with impossible speed and he breathed a sigh of relief as he gripped the molotov, finally. He lit it with shaking hands, taking a few attempts to do it.

With the last of his energy, fuelled by bitterness because _fuck you James, what the fuck_ , Aleks threw the flaming cocktail as hard as he could into the room the deathclaw had entered. If he was going to die, then he was going out with a fucking bang and taking that deathclaw with him.

And then he blacked out.

***

When Aleks woke up, his vision was blurry and white, and it took a few blinks to realise that _holy shit, he was alive_. The sky was a dark blue, almost green, indicating there would be a rad storm soon which was just his fucking luck.

There was a pressure at his arm, and Aleks looked over to see James fiddling with the PipBoy on Aleks’ wrist.

Aleks realised that he was lying in the dirt. He felt like shit, a mix between the wounds from the deathclaw and the comedown from his Psycho high. James was next to him, removing a holotape from Aleks’ PipBoy and Aleks could only scoff bitterly.

What did he expect? To wake up, his head cradled in James’ lap, James stroking his hair and whispering about how scared he was that he could have lost Aleks, tears in his eyes and his voice choked with relief?

Instead, his head was rested on his own backpack, but once he realised Aleks was awake, James reached down to squeeze his hand once, tightly, and maybe that was enough for now.

“What happened?” Aleks asked - or more likely, tried to ask. His mouth felt like cotton and his voice was hoarse. James gave him a water bottle and when Aleks took it with a weak grip, the strain didn't hurt the gashes on his arms as much as he expected it to.

“I went back for the egg,” James had the grace to look guilty. “I didn't realise you were so badly hurt, but I got the egg and distracted the deathclaw, but then you had to go and be dramatic with the molotov cocktail. I dragged you out, bandaged you up and pumped you full of stimpacks which speeded up the closing of the wounds.”

Aleks let out a low grunt in response, but his heart was having palpitations from relief. James didn't leave him behind. Sacrificed him for an egg, yes, but didn't abandon him.

“Thing is…” James trailed off, apparently unsure how to word what he wanted to say. “Stimpacks are needles, right? But you already had a fresh track mark on your arm, Aleks.”

Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Aleks did not have the energy to be lectured about Psycho at the moment. He couldn't bring himself to look James in the eye so he didn't, instead closing them with a sigh.

“Can we not talk about this now? Later, I promise,” Aleks lied.

James narrowed his eyes but didn't push any further.

“What were you doing with my PipBoy?”

James waved the holotape he had picked up, his fingers stroking the inside of Aleks’ wrist. He hopes James couldn't feel his pulse quicken.

“Turns out those Gunners stole the deathclaw’s eggs. She was just a mama looking for her babies, but the eggs were all broken except the one-”

“Which you stole.”

“Which I stole.”

“To sell for money.”

“That's how the exchange of goods and services work, my man,” James sighed dramatically.

“I would have been pissed too if someone stole my babies,” Aleks grumbled, trying to push himself into a sitting position and succeeding after a few attempts.

“Next time we’re at Diamond City, we’ll stop in at the Colonial Taphouse and sell this bad boy like the Gunners were supposed to. Make some easy-” A scoff from Aleks “-caps. But first let's get you home and get you looked at by an actual doctor.”

“Sure,” Aleks agreed easily. They were a days walk from home - maybe two in Aleks state.

The two fell silent, Aleks sipping at the bottle of purified water.

“I thought you’d left me behind,” he mumbled finally, his voice barely louder than a whisper, eyes downcast, refusing to meet James’ gaze.

James heard, though, and his face contorted into a mix of guilt and pity and _ouch_ that hurt. He must think Aleks is pathetic.

Aleks heard James stand up, and he thought James was going to start packing up their campsite but he sat down next to Aleks, thighs pressed against his, placing a calloused hand on Aleks’ cheek.

He leaned in, and Aleks’ breath caught in his throat as James pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, soft and gentle and so _unlike_ their usual interactions that it made Aleks’ head spin. Aleks was too weak to respond to the kiss, but he hummed in approval, causing James to kiss the tip of his nose, the corner of his eye and finally his lips again before pulling Aleks close, letting Aleks rest his head in the crook of his shoulder and neck. And for the first time in what felt like forever, regardless of the pain still radiating from his chest and arms, Aleks felt happy.

“I’d never leave you behind,” James muttered into his hair and Aleks closed his eyes and let himself believe it.


End file.
